Hardin, Montana.
Typical home $217,504 (+5.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$693 (+155%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,663 +5%
- $206,840$217,504 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $49,598 +30%
- $167,905$217,504 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Hardin$1,142
- Montana$2,453
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Hardin, MT rose 5.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Hardin, Big Horn County, Montana
Hardin is a city of 3,818 people in Big Horn County. Half its households earn more than $60,423 a year and half less, against $58,750 across Big Horn County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Big Horn County was 6.2% in August 2026, and the county had 1.8% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then farming.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Hardin is a small city and the seat of Big Horn County, in southern Montana. Household incomes in town run a little above the county's, and a smaller share of people live below the poverty line than you might expect for a place this size. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers turn properly hot by July; snow falls through the winter and the year overall is on the dry side. Most adults do not hold a four-year degree, and the typical trip to work is short.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and others in farming, forestry and mining, in transport, warehouses and utilities, or in shops. Among the largest workplaces in Hardin are Hardin Elem Schools, Big Horn Hospital and Hardin H S Schools. Across the county, unemployment is a little lower than it was a year ago, though there are somewhat fewer jobs than there were the year before. Almost everyone works away from home rather than remotely.
Things to do. Fort Custer is in or beside town, a fort with a history worth a look. A longer drive away are Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, one of the best known protected sites in the region, and Pompeys Pillar National Monument, another protected site tied to the Lewis and Clark story. Custer National Forest is also a longer drive away, for anyone who wants open country.
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- 1,394households
- 20%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 18 mintypical commute
- 1%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Big Horn County had 3,674 jobs in 2025, 1.8% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 36° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 91° and lows near 56°. About 28 inches of snow and 14 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Hardin weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Hardin
- Hardin Elem SchoolsSchool district191FTE
- Big Horn HospitalCritical access hospital116FTE
- Hardin H S SchoolsSchool district114FTE
School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windVery high
- LightningVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- HailRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Hardin’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Big Horn County.
Hardin home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Hardin$217,504
- Montana$467,275
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Hardin listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Hardin16.39%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Hardin27
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Hardin4
Zip codes with a Hardin address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Hardin — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.